Sanders (associate editor,
The Stranger) won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the rapes and murder that took place in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle in 2009. This book covers not just the horrendous summer night and subsequent trial but the entire lives of both victims and perpetrator with depth and clarity. Sanders follows the failure of multiple systems that left Isaiah Kalebu and his family without the help they needed and asked for, describing the terrible consequences of the loss of social safety nets. The stories of the victims, Teresa Butz and Jennifer Hopper, illuminate this specific tragedy, making Hopper's grace and forgiveness during the trial even more astonishing.
VERDICT This book is valuable, often difficult reading. Pair with Jill Leovy's Ghettoside for powerful, if upsetting, analysis of the failures of our criminal justice system. For readers interested in social justice, mental health care, and well-written narrative nonfiction.
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